"And at some point on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017, Mr. Trump took the time to sign a $35,000 check to his lawyer, who had made hush payments to prevent alleged sexual misconduct from being exposed before the 2016 presidential election. It was one of 11 occasions that Mr. Trump or his trust cut such checks, six of which were provided this week to The New York Times." https://nyti.ms/2J5NHBU

Maggie Haberman then discussed her reporting on CNN:

The New York Times's Maggie Haberman: "What people close to the president said is they are not sure he actually knew what the payments were going toward. That he thought he was getting a legal fee to repay Michael Cohen."

CNN host Alisyn Camerota: "That's absurd, Maggie..."

Haberman shot back: "It's not absurd, I don't agree."

Camerota: "$35,000 and to not know. This is a man who didn't even pay his vendors when they completed work for him. This is somebody who doesn't part with $35,000."

Haberman: "I'm just doing this for a theoretical here, let's say he thought he was reimbursing Michael Cohen for other things that he may not want people to know about. I'm talking specifically about the Stormy Daniels thing. So, no, I disagree that it's absurd."

It's Ash Wednesday. I'm Cate Martel with a quick recap of the morning and what's coming up. Send comments, story ideas and events for our radar to cmartel@thehill.com -- and follow along on Twitter @CateMartel and Facebook.

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ON CAPITOL HILL

Michael Cohen is getting to know the Capitol well:

Michael Cohen is back on the Hill today for his return appearance before the House Intel Committee. Note what appear to be a good number of records he is wheeling in pic.twitter.com/19ZBXtO5Sb

The House will likely vote tomorrow: The House is preparing to pass a resolution to condemn anti-Semitism. The vote was scheduled for today, but House Democratic leaders postponed it. http://bit.ly/2EHKPWH

Via The Hill's Jordain Carney, the GOP is struggling to find a unified strategy ahead of next week's floor fight over President Trump's national emergency declaration to build a border wall. http://bit.ly/2Hjd8xq

Where the Republican debate stands: "Republicans are discussing the possibility of alternative measures that would let the caucus lay out its position on border security and offer a counterpoint to a House-passed resolution of disapproval blocking Trump. But instead of bringing Republicans together, they are struggling to agree on what an alternative would look like -- underscoring the deep divisions sparked by Trump's action."

The highlight: Nielsen defended President Trump's national emergency declaration. From her opening statement: "Although we may disagree on solutions, I hope there can be a consensus that the current system isn't working and that this is an emergency." http://bit.ly/2VIzIDU

On whether the declaration is necessary: "I give [Trump] the operations reality," she said. "Here's what we're facing, here's what we're seeing, here are the facts. By my read of it, it is an emergency." http://bit.ly/2VIzIDU

Details: "Prosecutors said Schock had agreed to repay $42,000 to the Internal Revenue Service and $68,000 to his campaign account. Instead of facing felony charges, Schock would agree to plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of improperly reporting expenses."

Back story: "He resigned from Congress a month after a Washington Post profile reported that he had decorated his congressional office in the style of the hit show 'Downton Abbey' at taxpayer expense."

Via The Hill's Scott Wong and Mike Lillis, "The House Democrats' new campaign chief on Tuesday poured cold water on the progressive Medicare for All plan, dismissing it as just 'one idea' out there and warning that its estimated $33 trillion price tag was 'a little scary.'" http://bit.ly/2IV7VhG